Sequels, prequels star in year of action replays

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It's cinematic business as usual in 2005: there are blockbusters
from Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, Star Wars and
Harry Potter instalments, more sequels, prequels, remakes,
literary adaptations and big-screen versions of comic books. As
always, the film-going experience is reassuringly unpredictable:
some will meet our expectations, some fulfil our worst, and some
movies will take us by surprise.

We will have to wait a long time for one movie: Jackson's
King Kong, with Naomi Watts as the beauty who killed the
beast, won't be released until December. Another Star Wars
instalment, Revenge of the Sith (with Anakin Skywalker
taking a walk on the dark side) hits the multiplexes in May, while
Spielberg has a blockbuster, The War of the Worlds,
starring Tom Cruise.

Among the comic-book crossovers, there's an all-star cast in
Robert Rodriguez's Sin City (based on the tales of Frank
Miller). The Fantastic Four's cast includes Julian
McMahon; Batman Begins, the tale of the caped crusader's
origins, is directed by Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia) and
stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne.

There's a new Harry Potter film due in 2005. Director
Alfonso Cuaron did a sterling job with the third instalment,
The Prisoner of Azkaban. Will Mike Newell be able to
deliver the goods with Harry Potter and The Goblet of
Fire, which will hit the screens late next year? Tim Burton
tackles Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
(already filmed, in a dark and winning adaptation by Mel Stuart),
while the first of The Narnia Chronicles, The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is due in
December.

Steve Martin plays Inspector Clouseau in a prequel to The
Pink Panther (also called The Pink Panther). Wes
Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums) brings us The Life
Aquatic with Steve Zissou, starring Bill Murray as an
oceanographer with Captain Ahab leanings. Alexander Payne's
Sideways, already loaded with Golden Globe nominations, stars Paul
Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church as old friends on a trip through
California's vineyards.

Richard Linklater adapts Philip K. Dick's A Scanner
Darkly, starring Keanu Reeves; Nicole Kidman is convinced her
late husband is reincarnated as a young boy in Birth and takes the
Elizabeth Montgomery role in the remake of Bewitched;
Annette Bening is a diva of the stage in the Somerset Maugham
adaptation Being Julia; Clint Eastwood is a boxing coach
to Hilary Swank in Million-Dollar Baby; and The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comes to the big screen.

There is the usual cluster of biopics, including Colin Farrell
in Oliver Stone's Alexander: Leonardo DiCaprio depicts Howard
Hughes in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator; and Liam Neeson
is a pioneering sex researcher in Kinsey.

Among literary adaptations, there is Roger Michell's
Enduring Love, a cinematic Ian McEwan novel, which begins
with an extraordinary scene involving a hot-air balloon. Jane
Austen is given a Bollywood musical spin in Gurindher Chadha's
Bride and Prejudice. Mysterious Skin, directed by
Gregg Araki, is based on Scott Heim's unsettling novel about two
young men who share an experience of abuse.

Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education also deals with the
after-effects of sexual abuse and stars Gabriel Garcia Bernal.
French director Jacques Rivette returns with Story of Marie and
Julien, a mystery of points of view and strange events, while
Cedric Kahn's Red Lights is a gripping adaptation of a
Georges Simenon story about a man who loses his temper, and then
his wife, on a car journey.

We'll see a sprinkling of Asian cinema in 2005, including Hong
Kong director Wong Karwai's 2046, an elaborate dream of
loss and desire. It stars Tony Leung and an exquisite trio of
female stars: Gong Li, Faye Wong and Zhang Ziyi.

Ziyi (from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and
Hero) gives a moving performance in 2046, and she's the
centre of House of Flying Daggers, Zhang Yimou's second
foray (after Hero) into the world of martial arthouse.

If 2004 was a low-key year for Australian film, 2005 has a
high-profile slate of local movies, including Hating Alison
Ashley (Delta Goodrem's big-screen debut); Paul Cox's The
Human Touch and Craig Monahan's Peaches, both
starring Jacqueline McKenzie, and Kriv Stenders' The
Illustrated Family Doctor. Neil Armfield's Candy is
adapted from the Luke Davies novel, with Abbie Cornish and Heath
Ledger as a couple caught in the thrall of addiction.

There is Little Fish, directed by Rowan Woods (The
Boys), starring Cate Blanchett; Ray Lawrence's
Jindabyne, an adaptation of a Raymond Carver story; and
Eucalyptus, based on Murray Bail's novel, with Russell
Crowe, Jack Thompson and Nicole Kidman, and directed by Jocelyn
Moorhouse.